There’s a controversy lately here in the county about the regular trains of oil passing through here. People living by the railroad tracks are up in arms about how this “potential disaster” can keep happening for years and they WEREN’T TOLD!

Well, it’s simple. You aren’t told a LOT of things. Do you want a list of every item on every train? How about everything on every truck passing you on the highway? How about every airplane in the sky?

Of all the things to worry about a rail car accident is probably the LEAST likely and for practical purposes the LEAST likely to be “catastrophic.”

For starters, it’s a railroad track. Those cars don’t go very far from the tracks. They can’t veer off the road or come plummeting out of the sky. They’re generally ON the tracks or very close nearby. They tend to roll very badly once off the rails.

Second, the oil on them isn’t gasoline by and large. It’s oil. Heavy oil. The kind that you can put a lit cigarette out in and it won’t burn.

Third, it’s been YEARS and you’re just NOW finding out. Doesn’t that tell you something about how rare an accident is? People point to two, maybe three accidents in the past 10 years that were deadly. In the whole of North America.

Wow… well gee a couple bad things happened in an entire continent in a decade? No that’s not the definition of “rare” at all now is it?

Besides, what about the chlorine carried in tanker cars? That a asphyxiation and fire risk. Hell, anything will burn in the right conditions. FLOUR and COFFEE CREAMER burn in the right concentrations!

And don’t tanker trucks full of gasoline, propane and milk scare you?

Yes, milk because that’s a “Hazardous Material.” Yup. So are Maple Syrup and Chocolate! Hey, Milk can kill fish in a pond and dogs can’t have chocolate!

And what about airplanes?

I grew up on the final approach path of an airport. If a plane was going to have trouble and crash it would be near where we were. Also come to think of it off a major highway AND near a railroad.

Huh. For some odd reason I’m still alive. All the kids in the neighborhood grew up too (despite their best efforts to break their necks playing football, riding bikes without helmets and climbing trees.)

But, just for shits and giggles… how would the people who want all that “dangerous” oil stopped fix things? The oil still needs to get across the county. Train is safer and cheaper than truck, plane or pipeline. We haven’t developed “teleporter” technology, although I’m betting that would be even more expensive still.

I hate fear-mongering. It’s ignorant and impractical. All it does is waste time and energy. Get some facts. Get a solution. THEN say something. That is called “creative problem solving.”